Thursday, October 1, 2009

One-Month-Old Dies After Being Beaten by Teenage Father

A 1-month-old infant, whom Brownsville police said was beaten to death by his teenage father, has died from severe head trauma.

According to the preliminary autopsy results, Marco Avila also had several fractures of the head, blood on the brain, two broken ribs, a broken left clavicle bone and numerous contusions throughout the face and on the body.

“This all indicates that this 1-month-old child was basically beaten to death at the hands of his father, Israel Avila,” said police spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique. “This was no accident. This was a deliberate violent beating of a 1-month-old baby.”

Avila, 17, was arrested Monday afternoon and later charged with capital murder because the child was under 6 years old. On Tuesday morning Municipal Judge Rene De Coss set Avila’s bond at $1million and sent him to Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center.

On Monday morning, Avila and his common-law wife took the baby to Valley Regional Medical Center-Brownsville, where physicians examining the baby found signs of abuse and called police, Manrrique said. The child then was transported to Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen where he was pronounced dead at 3:47 p.m., he added.

“We are still working on the investigation; we are working with CPS (Child Protective Services) investigating the role the mother had in the case,” the spokesman said. “Indication is that she had no knowledge of the abuse. However, CPS still has to conduct further investigation to make sure the mother or other people didn’t have knowledge of abuse.”

As of now, the beating of the child looks to be an isolated incident with no previous signs of abuse, Manrrique said.

“They (Avila and the child’s mother) had a rough night,” he said. “The child had been crying the whole night and through his own admission, he (Avila) was extremely frustrated and he lost it.”

When approached on Wednesday morning, family members asked for understanding and privacy in their time of sorrow.